Connection
by mysticxf
Summary: Jack begins to understand his connection to Kate. Summer Captivity Fic


Lost and its characters belong to JJ Abrams, Bad Robot and The Others. Jack begins to understand his connection to Kate.

Lost – Connection  
By Mystic  
August 16th 2006

They decided to "start over" when they got to the mainland. It was a new life for them both. Him without his surgery; her without her fugitive status. He decided to teach; she got an office job. Sometimes they'd share a look, a smirk, a thought – knowing how different things were for them now.

They went on dates. He picked her up from her apartment on the outskirts of Los Angeles. It wasn't far from his house. He'd asked her to move in, she'd declined. Not that she wasn't ready to dig in, but that she had to get used to her life before joining it with his. He tried to understand, he nodded his head and allowed her her freedom because he knew if he didn't he'd lose her.

After the island, he couldn't think of life without her. He was sure she felt the same way. He saw it in her eyes when she went to the restroom and emerged to find him gone. She still had her fears, just like he had his, and when he rounded the corner, a drink or some popcorn in his hands, he'd watch as her body went lax, her eyes softening as she approached him, her palms outstretched, ready to hold him. To remind herself that he wouldn't leave.

They were at the movies now. It was becoming a Friday night tradition. They'd see new movies, old movies, movies so unknown they were the only people there. She was always waiting for him when he arrived. There was never that hassle of passing the time in her living room while she got dressed, or finished putting on make-up.

She was a simple creature. He wasn't used to that.

She'd be bouncing down the stairs as he was just about to ring her on the speaker outside and she'd smile up at him. Her eyes bright, cheeks slightly red when he ducked his head shyly. They were still in that stage. That awkward place where he'd say the wrong things and she'd pat his arm. She'd screw up and stubbornly apologize. He liked it that way. They weren't a whirlwind romance full of cliché's. They definitely weren't some fairytale.

They sat next to one another, some black and white movie playing on the screen. The words echoed off the walls as he watched her concentrate on the screen in front of her. Her hand stretched out to find the soda and he took it in his grip, waiting, knowing she'd look up at him. She furrowed her brow in confusion and he leaned forward slightly, kissing her gently on the nose. He pulled back just a few inches and watched her smirk, her eyes lingered shut a moment before slowly opening them and finding him.

"You're ridic…" she started.

"I love you, Kate." He spoke steadily, from some place deeper than his heart and he expected her to freeze. He expected her to throw up walls, turn back to the movie and release his hand.

Instead she smiled warmly and gave him a quick kiss. "Love you too, Jack."

They shared a shy set of grins, hands interlocked as they went back to watching the film. It was something suspenseful. He'd lost the plot an hour ago, his brain chewing over his life. He wanted to ask her to marry him. He wasn't afraid to ask anymore. For so long he'd thought any relationship would end up like his last. A woman bored with him, looking for love somewhere else; a man torn so deeply he thought he'd never love again.

But as they walked together, out into the cool night, he knew this was different. With her things were new, they were alive, they were forever. He moved with her down the street to the parking lot, feeling her body press slightly into his for warmth and he wrapped an arm around her, holding her tightly. She looked up at him, her waves flowing back over his arm before she pressed her head into his shoulder just a quick moment.

"You ever think about what would have happened if we'd stayed on the island?" He asked the question gently, in that whisper they always used when they talked about the island. Like it could hear them, take them back and tear them apart again.

She shook her head. "I don't think about that place." She shivered. "Gives me nightmares."

"You never told me what they did to…"

Her body shifted away from him, breaking his sentence. "I don't think about that place, Jack." She used her stern voice, the one that told him he was pushing her. She used it when he probed about her past. He knew she gave him bits and pieces, here and there, when he needed to know or when she was ready to divulge.

The sirens startled her, far more than they startled him and he laughed, his hands coming to rest softly on her shoulders. "Hey," he sighed and she smiled, looking up at him embarrassed. "Still scared, huh."

"What can I say, I don't trust the word of Dharma, or Hanso." She turned back towards the parking lot and walked slowly.

"You don't trust anyone," he teased.

But she frowned. "That's not true," she informed him quickly. "I trust you."

She lowered her head, hiding her smile as she continued moving. He walked with her, watching her bosom rise and fall sharply a couple times before calming as they reached his car. They smiled, her going around to the passenger side door, when the first police car entered the lot and blocked his car. His eyes widened and he felt his chest go cold as he watched her jerk away from the vehicle. A second set of blinding lights pulled up to the corner and then a third.

He watched them descend on her, she didn't have a chance to run, but she struggled. Shouting, he rushed to her, "Stop, Kate, STOP!"

"Ja…" she started, but the gunshot silenced her. He watched her vice grip on an officer's shoulder go limp and slide down, resting against the other man's wrist as they lowered her to the ground. Her fingers slapped the pavement and he took in a sharp breath, ready for them to back away, for him to see her dead body.

Instead he jerked up, his eyes wildly combing a bright room for her as he struggled against his restraints. He shouted her name three times before Henry came into view. The other man was staring at him, that quixotic expression blanketed across his face. Like he was curious and amused and bewildered all at the same time. Jack pressed his lips together tightly, felt his nose flare and his cheeks go red with anger.

"Oh, don't worry Jack, she's just fine. Resting actually," the man offered. "How are you doing?"

Jack shook his head roughly. "I want to see her."

Henry only smiled. "Seems like all you have to do is close your eyes. Jack."

"What are you doing to us?" His eyes scanned the room again. Saw the IV inserted into his arm. "What are you doing to her?"

Pacing in front of Jack, Henry pointed a finger at him quickly. "It surprises me just how much you're concerned about HER when you're the one with unknown substances dripping into your system." He stopped and grinned. "Shouldn't surprise me. James is the same way."

Jack clenched his jaw.

"At least James entertains us with his wit," Henry lamented. He took a new bag from a female Jack recognized from the dock. Jack watched Henry replace the bag hanging on the IV post and he shook his head, feeling something take hold. "Right now we're interested in seeing what's going on in that head of yours. How about I give you a prompt? Huh?" The man smiled, his hand clasped together in front of him.

"Leave her out of it," Jack responded through gritted teeth.

"But Jack, that doesn't need a prompt." He picked up a clipboard from a nearby table. "Four dreams in two hours," he skimmed the contents. "My does our girl have a hold on you."

He wanted to ask how Henry even knew what he was dreaming, but the answers he knew went beyond his logic and instead he shook his head. This time his eyes drooped. "Leave her out of it," Jack repeated. "Let her go and I'll do whatever you want."

Henry put his chart down and stepped up to him, his eyes focusing on Jack's as Jack's blurred out of focus. "That's not how it works. It's not your decision to make." The man waited, watching Jack's eyes shut. His head felt heavy and his hearing was muffled, but he felt Henry still standing there in front of him, taunting him. "Bring her in, start her on the serum. Let's see if we can get them to connect again," Henry instructed someone at his right.

Jack opened his eyes one last time, watching Henry's frown curl into a grin. He heard the double door at the end of the room open and he heard footsteps, light and careful and then he heard her voice. She shouted his name and then she squeaked in pain before Henry shouted, "For God's sake, don't let her hit the ground again."

The room faded from his view and he let his head fall back gently. Somewhere inside him he felt something familiar. There was a smell, a feeling, this presence. Her. She painted the darkness with sand and ocean, skies and trees and he saw her standing there at the edge of the water, waiting for him, her hand rubbing a spot on her neck.

"I'm scared," he told her honestly.

Kate nodded, knowingly. "I'm here."

Finis


End file.
